The opening ceremony of the 2023 Hanoi Ao Dai Tourism Festival took place on the evening of October 27 at Ba Kieu Temple and walking space in the Hoan Kiem Lake area.

The opening ceremony of the Ao Dai Tourism Festival 2023. Photo: Le Nam

This is the second time the festival has been organized by the Department of Tourism and the Hanoi Women's Union. 

The organizing committee hopes to make the Vietnamese traditional Ao Dai become a “tourism ambassador”, and the annual event of the Hanoi Ao Dai Tourism Festival become a typical tourism product of Hanoi’s tourism industry.

The cultural event also aims to commemorate major holidays in 2023, especially the 69th anniversary of the Capital's Liberation Day.

According to Vice Chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee Vu Thu Ha, the festival is to respond to the Government’s Resolution on developing the cultural industry in the capital.

She said many events to promote cultural and tourism development have been organized by the municipal People’s Committee during the ten months of 2023, including the Hanoi Ao Dai Tourism Festival.

This year, Hanoi successfully conducted more than 2,000 events and cultural activities, welcoming about 24 million tourists, including four million international tourists, an increase of 2.66 times over the year before.

The cultural event aims to showcase the beauty of Ao dai or Vietnamese traditional long dress. Photo: Le Nam

The city also attracts 20 million domestic tourists, an increase of 10% compared to 2022, positively contributing to the capital's GRDP growth.

The 2023 Hanoi Ao Dai Tourism Festival takes place from October 27 to 29, featuring a series of cultural activities to promote the beautiful image of Hanoi and praise the Vietnamese traditional Ao dai.

The opening ceremony of the event was professionally staged with the participation of many famous artists, including violinist Dao Quang Huy. The young artist has won capital music awards and performed at several large national art shows.

At the program, the audiences had the opportunity to admire the Ao dai collections of designers from all over the country such as Viet Bao, Quang Hoa, Cao Minh Tien, Ngoc Han, Thanh Hai, Y Van Hien, Dung Nguyen, Hoang Ly, Vu Thao Giang and many ao dai brands such as OZ Design House, La Sen Vu ao dai, and others.

The festival's highlight is the Ao dai parade event called “Bach Hoa bo hanh”, featuring 100 models to perform on the morning of October 29.

Charming Vietnamese women in Ao dai on show at the ceremony. Photo: Le Nam

The art-music night titled "Colors of Hanoi" will take place on October 28 at 8 pm, with Hanoi-themed songs performed by famous singers such as Ha Le, Bao Tram, Nguyen Ngoc Anh and others.

The festival's exhibition area will have 60 booths to introduce people and tourists to the history of Ao dai, Hanoi's tangible and intangible heritage, famous local Ao dai brands in three regions of Vietnam, namely the North, Central and South, as well as Hanoi's new tourism products, travel and accommodation promotion.

Director of Hanoi Tourism Dang Huong Giang affirmed that Hanoi Tourism Ao Dai Festival 2023 is a meaningful program to promote Hanoi as a "safe, friendly, quality and attractive" tourist attraction on the regional tourism map to attract more domestic and foreign travelers.